F&F - The Middle East Issue - Winter 2018

Fellowship

Table of C

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Fairydust

Christmas Morning - Ana Lisa de Jong - 8

Editor-in-Chief Avellina Balestri

A Light to the Nations - Hannah Vincent - 10 The Timeless Need for Forgiveness Safi Kaskas - 13

Assistant Editor Sarah Levesque

Lady Judith - Sarah Levesque - 16 Photo Collage of Oman - Bard Judith - 24

Cover by Byrnwiga .

Rumi, Religion & Beyond Religion - Ya’qub Ibn Yusuf - 25

Graphic Designers See page 96

The Hajj - Arusha Afsar - 28 Laden with Fruit & Always Green - Avellina Balestri - 31

Questions?

Comments?

Want to read more?

Maimonides - Robert Rosenwald - 34

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I Saw Santa Punching Arius - Ian Thomas Wilson - 38

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Nativity Poem - Ruth Asch - 36

Vayeshev: Heaven & Hell from a Jewish Perspective - Yosef Serebryanski - 41 Magic in the Sand - T.K. Wilson - 44 A First Christmas Reflection - Ashley Wengerd - 48 CS Lewis and the Calormenes - Avellina Balestri - 51

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Fellowship

Contents

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Fairydust

Jihad In Islam: What Is The Meaning Of It? - Katie Quirk - 55 Mandrakes - Hannah Kenner - 60

God Jesus Ministry: An Outreach for the Christian Community of Pakistan - Christopher Hope - 63 The Christ - Timothy Mather - 66 Listen to the Feminine - Jeremy Henzell-Thomas - 67 Christos Razdajetsja! Christ Is Born!

- Christopher Woods - 70 Can Piety & Creativity Co-Exist? An Islamic Perspective - Veronica Polo - 74 Oh, Ye Lovers - Avellina Balestri - 77 Can We Get Away With Our Sins?

- Mostafa Tarek - 82

Meeting in the Black Forest - Amanda Pizzolatto - 84 There's No Santa Claus Without St. Nicholas - Anna Trotta Githens - 89 Thank You Mother - Kashif Qaimi - 93 Our Next Issue - 98

All articles and artwork belong to their respective creators and may not be copied without permission.

We lay no claim to franchises or characters from franchises mentioned in this magazine; each is copyrighted by its own publishers and/or studios. All are used here for entertainment purposes only. See page 82 for more information and go to our website for complete disclaimers.

Image credits may be found on pg 97

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Editor’

“This world is not a permanent place, it’s a passage,

The Middle East has served as the womb and nurturer of the world’s three largest monotheistic traditions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. As such, all of us who follow these faith traditions share an integral spiritual kinship with each other, for each of them took root amidst the same harsh climate and stark surroundings, where mountains and deserts bespeak something greater than ourselves and the thirst for Living Water stings the throat and strains the eyes in search of an oasis. We are all seekers and finders of something that defies description, something that flourishes in spite of the elements.

Perhaps it is this atmosphere that helped to strip our forefathers down to the bone so they might hear the voice of God upon the wind, and be drawn ever deeper into the raw reality of our dependence upon the Essence of Reality for survival and sustenance. Perhaps beyond this is the riveting humanity and brokenness of it all, the cry of psalm and nasheed alike, that we might not be forgotten in the darkness of the pit but delivered from destructive forces, and that we might end this bitter era and begin a new life, face to face with our Creator who has called us so often, even if we rarely listen. We know what it is to pray, beg, prostrate ourselves, pour ourselves out in tears and lamentations before our God and King.

And yet it is when we have nowhere else to turn and our tears run wild that we find ourselves able to return to our starting point, our ultimate origin and destination. It is then we plead for, and often receive, a passage of light to guide us through this passage of life. And the Lord of the Worlds promises that He will respond. For we are all called to remember our impermanence on this earthly plain, and to prepare for the day of our final return to the Source from which we came. We are all part of the same caravan, a ribbon of white across the swirling sands, all weaving our tales around the same sparkling fires, reminding each other that lovers never sleep, but stay awake to tell stories to God. We all share a subconscious common ground, caught in the current of a spiritual bloodstream which binds us and which will never be broken. Though our histories have often been torrid, and our current realities are still often fraught by misunderstanding and enmeshed heated debate over our doctrinal differences, we are all still the children Abraham/Ibrahim, and have collectively brought to the world the unique revelation of the oneness of God and His direct interaction with and intervention for His creation. Perhaps this is also where we inherit our passionate natures and strong wills, our fierce fervor and dedicated devotion. We have inherited the faith of our father.

For this reason, among many others, even our struggles with one another often take on the characteristics of family fights, pulled up around the same table, partaking of the same heavenly bread, yearning for the same

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’s NotE

, a road on which you are passing.” ~ Imam Ali (AS)

same divine Beloved. The Surah Noor captures the essence of this common vision, something which as a Catholic, I was blessed the stumble upon the first time I opened a Quran in a bookstore, seeking my Lord in all things: God is the Light of the heavens and the earth.

The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, The lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearly white star, Lit from the oil of a blessed olive tree, Neither of the east nor of the west, Whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire.

Light upon light.

God guides to His light whom He wills.

And God presents examples for the people, and God is Knowing of all things.

It is my hope and prayer that this issue, focusing on the spiritual and cultural traditions of the Middle East and its religious diaspora, may inspire deeper understanding and empathy for one another, as well as an appreciation for the stories we all have to share. It is no mistake that it is being released for the Christmas season, for Christians like myself the world over sing of the birth of our Savior in a small town in Palestine, and remember our spiritual homeland, a holy land, one that is forever present in our hearts and souls and for which we pray God may show His mercy, bring His justice, and grant His peace.

Shalom aleichem ‫עלֵיכֶם‬ ֲ ‫שָׁ לֹום‬ As-salamu alaykum ‫السالم عليكم‬ Pax tecum Peace be with you

Avellina Balestri, Editor-in-Chief

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Christmas Season wishes & New Years Blessings Publications The staff of Fellowship & Fairydust

would like to wish you and your family peace, joy and blessings this Christmas Season and throughout the New Year.

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A Timeless Need for Forgiveness (Ian)

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A Timeless Need for Forgiveness (Ian)

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A Timeless Need for Forgiveness (Ian)

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Lady Judith

By Sarah Levesque "Holofernes is coming! Nebuchadnezzar's general is invading! He's got a huge army of Assyrians with him!"

A man ran past the house, calling his terrifying news out into the early morning air. He startled me so much, I dropped my mistress' meal and it went all over the floor. Of course it had to land where the chamber pot had been spilled earlier - now it was inedible! I cursed under my breath in Egyptian - my native language. Deborah, the housemaid, would have my head for this!

Hurriedly I scooped up the bread and meat, throwing a towel over the spilled honey so no one would step in it. Tossing the plate of ruined food onto the table, I hastily grabbed another plate and filled it. I took the stairs carefully - only last week I had broken three dishes and a tray by tripping on the staircase. I gained the roof without incident and, waiting outside the tent that took up most of the space on the flat roof, spoke to alert my mistress of my presence.

"Lady Judith?"

"Come in." Her voice was low and musical, as beautiful as she.

I entered the tent. Though it was harvest time, the tent was dark, hot, and stuffy. Don't ask me why, but Lady Judith had lived here year-round ever since her husband, Manasseh, died at the barley harvest three years before. She only used the house on feast days and only ate on the Sabbath and the day before. She amazed me by this - how could one who ate so little stay so beautiful? But today was the Sabbath, which was why I was bringing her food. I set it down on the small table before her and waited, hands clasped, eyes down, as befitted a slave, waiting to tell my news.

"Well?" Lady Judith said.

I took this as permission to speak. "Holofernes is coming! Here! To Bethulia! Now! Ma'am," I added quickly.

"And who is Holofernes?" she asked.

I gaped. How could anyone not know who Holofernes was? Then I remembered - she stayed in this tent nearly all week, just praying, and she heard none of the news or the rumors.

"He's Nebuchadnezzar's general! You know, Nebuchadnezzar of Assyria? Holofernes has already marched against

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Damascus and razed it to the ground, and now he's here!" I said, all in a rush.

"Hmm," was my mistress' only answer. She was eating the food I had brought for her, but this was not the answer I was looking for.

"They say he's gonna raze Jerusalem, too!" I added.

"He has to get there first," Lady Judith said calmly. "And who is 'they'?"

"Everyone!" I said, exasperated at her lack of emotion. "It's all over how an Ammonite leader named Achior told Holofernes that your God will defend you Jews, and how Holofernes had him bound and brought him to your wall - the guards went and rescued him, and he's dining with Lord Uzziah tonight!"

"Perhaps this man will give us some advice on how to defeat Holofernes," Lady Judith said practically.

"Why? Won't your God protect you?" I asked sarcastically.

"Even David had to fight Goliath with his sling - the Lord needs your cooperation."

"Wait - your omnipotent God needs my cooperation?" I was treading a thin line and I knew it - I had been sold many times for my sassiness. But my mistress did not react to my tone.

"Nothing good will come to you if you don't cooperate with Him," she returned.

"I suppose that's why I'm a slave," I grumbled under my breath.

I helped Judith dress, then brought her empty plate and tray back to the kitchen. The towel on the floor reminded me of my earlier disaster, and I cursed under my breath again - honey makes everything so sticky! And that plate of ruined food - what would I do with it to keep Deborah from finding out? Looking around, I realized the plate was nowhere in sight.

Just then Deborah came into the kitchen. "You!" Her mean eyes glinted at me craftily. "So the high and mighty Mara thought she could keep a plate of the mistress' food for herself, did she? A slave girl like you doesn't need such food!"

My mind was racing - what would my punishment be?

"What did you do with the food?" I asked the question aloud before I could stop myself - another trait that had gotten me into trouble many times.

"What do you think I did with it? I ate it!" the housemaid said, ready to relish my despair at losing a plate of fine food.

Noticing this, I acted as downcast as I could, but I was seething with inner laughter. Not getting the reaction she looked for, Deborah stalked out of the room. I burst out laughing, covering my mouth the best I could so she wouldn't hear. Naomi, the kitchen girl and my only friend in this house, had been watching, and she came over to see what had sent me into such spasms of mirth.

Gasping for air, I told her, “I spilled food on the floor where I dropped the chamber pot earlier, and Deborah ate it!�

Naomi nearly fell over with laughter. As soon as we got control of ourselves, she helped me to clean up the spilled honey, and she kept telling me how lucky I was that Deborah hadn't known what really happened. Little did I know that in only a few weeks anyone would have been glad to eat that spoiled food, for the siege started that day. No one was allowed in or out of the city - Holofernes' huge army of Assyrians killed everyone who tried.

Five weeks dragged by. The food ran out and the cisterns went dry. There was a large spring outside the city, but Holofernes' men were camped around it. The lack of food didn't harm Lady Judith - she barely ate anything to begin with. But I could see that the thought of the starving children of the city was bothering her. So I went straight to her when I heard the news about Lord Uzziah, the town leader.

"Lady Judith! Lord Uzziah had promised the people that he will surrender in five days!"

Lady Judith looked up from her prayers - the woman was always praying!

"What?"

"Lord Uzziah's gonna surrender in five days!" I repeated. "What's gonna happen then? Will they raze the city?" My real question was "what will they do to me?" but I didn't ask it. How would they know that I'm just a slave girl who had no part in it?

"Mara!"

I snapped back to Lady Judith, realizing it was the second time she had called my name.

"Yes ma'am?" I answered meekly.

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"Go to Lord Uzziah's house and ask him to dinner. Then go to the houses of the elders Chabris and Charmis and ask them to dinner, too. Tell all three that I would like to see them about Holofernes. Then come back and help me to dress."

"You want Lord Uzziah, Chabris and Charmis here?" I asked, astounded. "You're gonna have them to dinner? But you never give dinners!"

"That's true," my mistress admitted. "But my husband was good friends with all three. Besides, the Lord told me to ask them, and I believe they will come."

"Your God told you to invite the town leaders to dinner?" I was openly skeptical - how could a god talk to anyone, and why a woman?

"Yes, He did," Lady Judith said simply. "Run along, now."

So I did. First I went to Lord Uzziah's large house, to the servant's door. It was opened by an old woman.

"My mistress, Lady Judith, wife of Manasseh, has bidden me to tell Lord Uzziah that her God wishes him to join her for dinner," I told the old woman.

"Humph," she answered.

"I'm to wait for a response," I added - I was sure Lady Judith would want one, though she didn't ask for one.

The old woman grumbled, muttering under her breath, "Oh you are, are you?"

She turned around and ordered a maid to pass on the message and get an answer. I waited, and after about fifteen minutes the maid came back and spoke to the old woman. She harrumphed again.

"Well?" I asked. The old woman's sluggishness was annoying me, and she reminded me of Deborah - neither seemed to do anything.

"Lord Uzziah will dine with Lady Judith tonight, as it is the Lord's request," she answered grumpily.

I quickly spoke my thanks and a goodbye and left. Next I went to Chabris' house, then to Charmis', and both said that they would come. As I walked home, I saw gaunt children sitting like old men, too weak to play, and I realized why Uzziah had promised to surrender. But how many will die before the five days are up? I wondered grimly. And how many will the Assyrians kill when we surrender?

I reached the house and went to tell Naomi that she'd have three extra people to cook for.

"Where am I going to get the food?" she wondered aloud.

I left her trying to scrounge something to serve while I went to the roof and told Lady Judith the news. She seemed like she already knew they would come, which I thought odd. But maybe her god had told her this, too.

I brought her washing water, and helped her into a dark dress for dinner. Why great ladies needed help to get dressed was beyond me, but I did as I was bidden. Once she was dressed, I ran back down stairs - almost falling headlong - to open up the dining room. It was unused but not dirty, since Deborah insisted that it be cleaned once a week, a job that usually fell to me. But it needed a quick dusting before it was ready for company, especially company as important as the leader and the elders of the city.

After the dining room was spotless and the food was ready, Deborah sent me upstairs to change into my clean dress to serve the food. Lady Judith looked beautiful in her dark dress in the candlelight. She was speaking earnestly to the men, but I was too occupied in trying to serve the food without incident to pay much attention. I only heard snatches of the conversation, which was mainly one sided: "Why have you tempted God? ... All Judea will lie waste... Go to the gates and I and my maid will go forth..."

These phrases scared me, especially the last. Where is she going? I wondered. And why is she bringing Deborah with her? I stood behind the door, trying to hear more, until Deborah caught me and shooed me away. But she took up my position, the hypocrite.

Not one of the men ate much, and Lady Judith ate nothing. When they were finished with what they did eat, I cleared the food away, hiding it before Deborah noticed. I took part of it to feed Naomi and myself, and the rest I planned to give to the starving children I'd seen earlier - the food would go bad soon anyway, despite the work Naomi had put into it. Eventually, near midnight, the men left, and Lady Judith called my name.

"Mara, bring all the coals in the fireplace up to my tent."

This command confused me, but Naomi explained that devout Jews wore sackcloth and threw ashes on their heads when they really wanted something from their god. This made to no sense to me, but I shoveled coal into a bucket and brought it up to the rooftop. Lady Judith had already taken off her dinner dress, leaving only her sackcloth undergarment, proving that she did not need my help to dress. She had let down her beautiful, long, dark hair, and she was lying face down on the floor. I set down the bucket and left the tent quietly. I went to clean up the dining room and close it up again. Then I tiptoed up to the roof - Lady Judith

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was crying, praying aloud. Feeling bad for eavesdropping on her prayer I crept back to the house, to my bed.

Before sunrise I was up, looking for the children I had seen the previous day. When they came out, I gave them the leftover food from the banquet. They gobbled it up quickly. As soon as it was all gone, I returned home and brought Lady Judith her washing water. She was still lying face down on the floor, softly praying aloud.

Noticing me, she ended her prayer, stood up and said, "I need your help."

The next few hours were spent in helping my mistress realize all her great potential in beauty. She had a bath, and we washed and brushed her long, dark hair until it nearly glowed. Then I put her hair up in the latest fashion, with a tiara she found among her jewelry.

Deborah had Naomi wash and iron Lady Judith's best dress from before her husband died - it was a light blue color, made of a lightweight cloth imported from Egypt by the rich Manasseh. The dress still fit her, and she looked beautiful. She put on a tasteful necklace and matching bracelet, rings and earrings. Then she pulled out a basket full of fine makeups I hadn't seen since I was kidnapped from Egypt. I clapped my hands when I saw them, and I carefully applied them onto Lady Judith's face - not much, just enough to complement her natural beauty and bring out her dark eyes. We finished when the sun was nearing its peak. I was so hungry that my stomach growled loudly.

Lady Judith turned to me and said, "Perhaps we should eat before setting out."

I was embarrassed, but my mistress just laughed. I hadn't heard her laugh before, but it was as beautiful as her voice, and it was infectious. Soon we were both giggling like children, though I couldn't help but wonder how I was even allowed to laugh aloud, not to mention with my mistress - I'd known girls who were beaten almost to death for laughing quietly in a corner while their mistresses were laughing.

When I got my breath back, I ran down to the kitchen ahead of my mistress. "Naomi! Quickly - Lady Judith is coming downstairs! Into the kitchen!! For food! Hurry - find something for her to eat!"

Lady Judith was not far behind me. She swept into the room and sat at the worn table.

"You needn't set anything fancy," she told Naomi. "Just some bread will do. But set out enough for each of you, as well."

Naomi obeyed, but she looked at me, mystified. I shrugged my shoulders, just as confused. Naomi set out a loaf of bread and a jar of honey. Lady Judith cut the bread into large slices and, spreading a liberal amount of honey on each, handed two slices to me and two to Naomi. She took one for herself and bit into it. Naomi and I stood, holding the bread, wondering at the odd circumstance - not only was Lady Judith breaking her habit of only eating on the Sabbath and the day before, but she was eating at the kitchen table, with slaves!

"Go ahead - eat it!" she said, smiling at us. "And sit down, both of you!"

We obeyed automatically, sitting at the plain wooden table and eating our bread. It was very good, considering it was rather old - flour was nearly nonexistent in the besieged city.

Just then, Deborah passed the door to the kitchen. She backtracked and stood in the doorway in such a way that she could see both Naomi and myself, but not Lady Judith. She was outraged at the sight of us sitting down together and eating.

"What do you think you're doing," she asked, "eating perfectly good bread and honey? That is for Lady Judith! Have you even brought her washing water, you lazy girls? What would she say if she saw you making free with her good food?"

"I said that they can have as much as they want, Deborah," Lady Judith put in.

Deborah's jaw dropped, and she opened and closed her mouth a few times, like a fish in the Nile does when it's caught.

"Lady Judith!" she finally managed. "I didn't see you there! Please excuse my outburst - I thought that they... That..." she trailed off.

I kept my eyes on my bread, knowing if I looked at Naomi I’d burst out laughing.

"I suppose that you don't think that they should be eating with me, or that I should even be here," Lady Judith said. "It is unusual, but I see no harm."

"Of course not, my Lady," Deborah answered meekly.

"I see no reason why these girls, who do most of the work, shouldn't get as much good food as you do," my mistress added bluntly.

"Yes, yes, of course," said Deborah faintly.

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"Oh, and Deborah? I would like you to find Mara's prettiest dress and iron it. No, wait…" She sized me up with a glance.

"Go into my room and find one of my old dresses and iron it - I think she'll fit into them perfectly. And while you're there, get two or three for each of us, though you do not have to iron the others."

I gasped, realizing what this meant. "My Lady... surely you can't mean... you're letting me... Are you serious?" I stuttered.

She laughed again. "Yes, I'm serious - I want you to wear one of my old dresses - we both need to make a good impression."

She made a flicking motion with her fingers at Deborah, who went off in a huff. There would be trouble ahead for me because of this, I figured.

"An impression on whom?" Naomi asked, even more confused than I was.

"On Holofernes and his men," Lady Judith answered.

"Holofernes? You can't be serious!" I squeaked, my voice cracking in my amazement and horror. "Why?" I added.

But she was serious, and she wouldn't say why. I wondered if this had to do with the events of last night. But soon I had forgotten this again, as I looked down at myself in Lady Judith's gray dress. Naomi had pulled my hair up and put sandals on my feet.

"So this is what being rich feels like," I said quietly to myself. I returned to the kitchen to find Lady Judith waiting.

"You look lovely!" she said to me.

I was surprised, and went to look at myself in the water bucket. I wasn't as beautiful as my mistress, but I didn't look like plain old Mara the slave anymore. I turned back to Lady Judith, and she handed me a large leather bag.

"Here," she said. "This has our extra dresses and our food - I can't imagine what unlawful things they eat in that camp."

She shuddered.

I realized she really was bringing me - me, not Deborah! - with her, wherever she was going. I wondered about the enemy soldiers and why we were going to their camp, but Lady Judith said no more, and I was afraid to ask. I shouldered the heavy bag and she led me to the city gate where three men were waiting. I recognized Lord Uzziah, Chabris, and Charmis, and I almost laughed aloud at their surprise - they barely recognized my beautiful mistress, and I knew they didn't recognize me. I thought they'd fall down and worship Lady Judith, but they managed to compose themselves, though they were still wide-eyed. They had a brief conversation, then they blessed her, the gates were opened, and we walked out of the city.

We traveled without saying anything, and soon we heard the pounding and jingle of an approaching cavalry troop. Lady Judith kept walking until we reached the spring. There the troop of more than one hundred Assyrians overtook us and surrounded us. They were all typical Assyrians - tall, with dark curly hair, much like Lady Judith. I put down the heavy food bag as the leader - a captain - spoke.

"Who are you, and why are you here?"

He, as well as his soldiers, was obviously taken with my mistress' beauty. I felt their rough gazes pass over me, but I stood as firm as my mistress.

"I am a Hebrew," Lady Judith told him. "I'm leaving Bethulia because my people have been unfaithful to God by eating unlawful foods. He will punish them by allowing you to demolish them. God has told me to seek refuge with Holofernes so I will not be harmed. I can show you the passages through the mountains, but you have nearly starved the people out, and you will soon be able to take the city without a fight."

"You will not be harmed - you're much too beautiful!" the captain exclaimed ardently in rough Hebrew. I wondered if he realized how backwards his statement was as he finished, "We will bring you to Holofernes and you can tell him your story yourself."

He dismounted from his horse and helped Lady Judith up, himself mounting behind another man. My mistress did not sit astride, but she sat well in the saddle, and I realized she must have ridden before, unlike me. Suddenly I was grabbed under the shoulders. I found myself sitting sideways on a horse in front of a young Assyrian. He smiled cheerily, his brown eyes merry.

Unable to regain control of the situation, I turned my head away. He laughed and, taking one of my arms, snaked it around his neck. I automatically grabbed one hand with the other as the horse moved.

“My bag!” I cried, as he seemed to be leaving it behind.

“Someone grabbed it,” the soldier told me. “Hold on tight," he added, laughing into my ear.

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The horse picked up its pace, and I had no choice but to listen to his advice. I closed my eyes tightly and wondered how my mistress was getting on by herself. Had I opened my eyes, I would have seen her galloping the captain's horse expertly, rejoicing in the exercise.

After a short ride at breakneck speed, we slowed down. I heard a challenge and an answer, and knew we had arrived at the camp. We soon stopped moving entirely, and I opened my eyes. We were in front of an extra-large tent, much larger than the one on Lady Judith's roof. The captain got off the other man's horse and helped my mistress to dismount. The man behind me disengaged my arms and slid off the horse, and without his support I almost fell off. But he took me by the waist and swung me down off the horse, steadying me for a moment before letting me go and standing back.

"There you are," he said simply. His voice was deep, and his Hebrew was better than that of his captain, I noticed.

"Thank you," I replied in the same tongue. “And my bag?”

Another soldier dropped it at my feet. I went to shoulder it again, but the man I had ridden with took it.

“I’ll give it back after you see Holofernes,” he said.

“Thank you,” I said again, and joined my mistress.

I hoped the soldier wouldn’t go through the bag, but he didn’t seem like the kind of man who would. Not that I was sure of that – I had only known him for a few minutes, and we had spoken all of six sentences.

The captain announced us, and we entered the tent, I two steps behind my mistress, as is fitting. The inside of the tent was dark, lit only by two silver lamps held by slaves. The man before us could have only been Holofernes, but he had obviously just gotten out of his magnificent bed. His blankets, hair, and clothing were mussed, he was blinking rather quickly and he had to stifle a yawn. What kind of man is asleep after noontime? I wondered.

Lady Judith lay face down on the ground in front of Holofernes, and I followed suit. Another slave - one without a lamp helped her to get up, and I scrambled to my feet to stand behind my mistress. Lady Judith repeated to the general the story she had told his captain.

"You will be safe here," Holofernes said in an oddly high voice. "I've never hurt anyone who served Nebuchadnezzar!"

"God will accomplish something through you," Lady Judith said. "Achior the Ammonite was right when he told you about my God. But my townsmen have decided to eat what is forbidden, and He is angry at them. He will use you to punish them." She continued to butter him up until he invited her to dinner.

"My maid and I will eat our own food, but thank you," she answered sweetly.

"Oh, yes. You can't have your god mad at you!" said Holofernes.

I thought I detected sarcasm in his voice, but I couldn't blame him – why would a god care what his people ate?

Holofernes gave us a good-sized tent on the edge of the camp, and the captain and my horseman escorted us there, leaving their horses with the other men. When they had gone away, Lady Judith gave thanks to her God that things had gone according to plan.

As I fell asleep that night, I wondered what the next part of the plan was.

The next three days went by pretty quickly. Lady Judith would pray all day, leaving me free to go where I pleased. Each night, we would go to the spring. I stood guard while Lady Judith bathed, praying and purifying herself. My mistress offered to stand guard so I could bathe, but I felt too exposed. Then we went back to our tent and slept. I spent those days talking with the women of the camp - the wives, concubines, maids, laundresses, and the others. I noticed that I had an extra shadow most of the time - the soldier who I had ridden with seemed to be making it a point to know my whereabouts. He was pretty stealthy, but once you notice that someone is following you, you keep an eye out. He wasn't doing anything obvious, just talking with other men, but he was there. On the third day, I decided to figure out what he wanted - after all, I didn't know how long we were going to be here, though there was only one more day until Lord Uzziah surrendered.

I walked straight up to the soldier and bluntly asked, "Why are you following me?"

He looked at his feet, then looked me straight in the eye and said, "You make me think of my sister, and I wouldn't want her wandering around a camp full of soldiers alone, no matter whose soldiers they were and what their general had said."

"Do you think Lady Judith is in danger?" I asked him, worried.

"Holofernes keeps a guard near her tent, though you may not have noticed," the man answered, smiling again. "My name's Tigran, but the way."

I decided I liked his smile, and I smiled back. "Well, Tigran," I said, walking towards Lady Judith's tent, "thank you for all your help. My name is Mara."

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"My pleasure," he answered, walking with me.

"Do you ever stop smiling?" The question was out of my mouth before I could stop it. "Sorry, that was rude," I apologized, embarrassed.

Tigran just laughed. "I don't mind," he said. "But yes, sometimes I do stop smiling - when I'm worried, or going into battle."

"I hope there won't be a battle," I said. "Why can't your army just leave us in peace?"

"Nebuchadnezzar had a war against King Arphaxad of Media two years ago," Tigran said. He was no longer smiling. "The people of Judea, Damascus and Syria would not join his war, so now that the war is over he wants to give you a lesson."

"So, he's punishing us for not doing what he wants? He's just a big bully!"

Tigran laughed grimly. "You think Nebuchadnezzar’s a bully, try being around Holofernes! He's the real bully."

"Why do you fight for him, then?" I asked, confused.

"For much the same reason as you serve your Lady Judith," he answered. "Because I must."

We arrived at Lady Judith's tent, and I said goodbye. I thought about our conversation until I fell asleep.

The next day I once again spent talking to my new friends - the women of the camp - and to Tigran. We talked about his childhood and mine - how he had grown up on the Tigris River with his sister and his brother, and how I had grown up on the Nile with my older brothers. We tried to forget that he was here to destroy my town - for that was how I had come to think of Bethulia - and that I was here to keep him from it, though he was unaware of this.

I went back to our tent in time to prepare dinner for Lady Judith and myself. Soon after we had finished eating, a voice came from outside the tent.

“Excuse me, Lady Judith?”

I opened the tent door to see a man I recognized as Holofernes’ personal attendant.

“How can I help you?” I asked.

“May I speak to Lady Judith?”

“Let me ask her.” I turned and looked at my mistress, who nodded. She went to the door.

“How may I serve Holofernes?” she asked.

“Lovely lady,” the attendant said, as if reciting a prepared speech, “the general invites you to his tent for some drinks.

Come and enjoy yourself like the Assyrian women who serve in Nebuchadnezzar’s palace. This is a great honor.”

“I shall be glad to accept,” Lady Judith answered. “How could I refuse? I will remember this happy night as long as I live.”

I thought she was laying it on a bit thick, but it made the servant happy. He gave me some lamb skins for Judith to sit on in Holofernes’ tent and left.

“This is good,” Judith said. “Now, I must be dressed as seductively as possible, though dressing immodestly, especially for the likes of this general, is disturbing. Perhaps we can layer it a bit, so I can take off a shawl or something to get his attention.”

“Why?” I asked.

“You shall see.”

Lady Judith would say no more, so I helped her dress in silence. Soon she was again dressed in a ravishing outfit, complete with jewelry and makeup. As she had requested, she had a shawl she could remove to show off her neck and arms. Then, I went to Holofernes’ tent to lay out the lambskins his attendant had given to my mistress, and to prepare my lady’s wine, so she would not have to drink the “unclean” wine of the Assyrians. The tent was well lit with many lamps, and there were already many men there.

I looked for Tigris, but he was not among them. It seemed to be the end of a banquet for ranking officers.

Soon, Lady Judith entered the large tent. The talk ceased abruptly, as all the men turned to ogle her. Holofernes rose and went to greet her, but had trouble speaking.

Finally he spoke, slurring slightly, as if he had already had too much wine. “Join us for a drink and enjoy yourself.”

“I’ll be glad to, sir,” my mistress replied. “This is the happiest day of my life.”

She walked towards me and sat down on the lambskins. I served her wine that we had brought from home, and she drank

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little while appearing to drink much. The men all around drank copious amounts of Holofernes’ wine. I tasted it, and it was strong and bitter. It was not surprising that the men who were not already drunk soon were. Holofernes could not take his eyes off my mistress, and he got so drunk he was practically drooling over her. He kept trying to sweet talk her, which would have been repulsive even if he had been sober. Finally, when it was late, the officers started stumbling off in twos and threes until we were the only ones left. Even the servants had left, which was no loss, as they had been uncouth and rough, making coarse jokes and lewd references. Holofernes stumbled to his bed, tried to invite my mistress to join him, and began snoring.

“Thank the Lord,” Lady Judith sighed. “I thought this banquet would never end. Now, Mara, find the food bag, go outside the tent, and empty it.”

Confused, I obeyed silently. The bag was already nearly empty, and it took two minutes to take out what little remained.

Lady Judith soon came out of the tent holding something I couldn't immediately identify in the dark.

Then I realized it was Holofernes' head!

She put it into the bag and gave it back to me. I felt sick - severed heads are nasty things. Then we walked back to Bethulia. I wished Tigran would come by with his horse, but we had to walk the whole way. Which was probably a good thing, considering he would have been duty bound to give an alarm.

When we finally reached Bethulia, Lady Judith cried, “Open the gate! Open the gate! Our God is still with us. Today he has once again shown his strength in Israel and used his power against our enemies!”

The gates opened, and we were soon surrounded by the townspeople, who looked gaunt after only being around well-fed soldiers for a few days. Naomi found me, and gave me a huge smile and a great big hug.

She asked me what had happened, but then our mistress shouted, “Praise God! He has used me to destroy our enemies!”

She held up the head of Holofernes, and everyone gasped. “Here!” she cried. “This is the head of Holofernes, the general of the Assyrian army, and here is the mosquito net from his bed, where he lay in a drunken stupor. The Lord used a woman to kill him. As the Lord lives, I swear that Holofernes never touched me, although my beauty deceived him and brought him to his ruin. I was not defiled or disgraced; the Lord took care of me through it all.”

I had been tired when the gates had opened, but now my adrenaline was racing and I was as awake as anyone else. They all bowed down and prayed.

Then Lord Uzziah turned to my mistress. He praised her and their god. “May God reward you with blessings, because you remained faithful to him and did not hesitate to risk your own life to relieve the oppression of your people,” he finished.

Then some men brought Achior to Lady Judith to identify the head, and he fainted at the sight of it. When he came to, Achior bowed to my mistress in respect. Then, Lady Judith told the whole story of how she came to be holding Holofernes’ head. I nearly fell asleep against Naomi, as hearing the story was not nearly as interesting as living it. Besides, I had had a very long day.

Finally, Lady Judith finished, and Achior professed his belief in the God of Judah as the only god. I still wasn’t sure that he was the only god, but I figured he was the most powerful one.

Then, Lady Judith gave the severed head to Lord Uzziah. “Hang it on the wall, and at sunrise, march out to attack the Assyrian outpost. Without Holofernes, they will be routed.”

At last, we got to go home. And oh! I slept so well that night, safe in my own house, in my own rough bed.

The next day was one of great rejoicing - the Assyrian army had gotten up to find their general headless, and they had all run away from Bethulia’s little army, just as Lady Judith had said. The armies of the surrounding areas fought the Assyrians as they ran, and inflicted heavy losses on them, as we learned when our soldiers came back. I hoped Tigran got away safely.

The whole town went down into the camp to gather all the valuable things the Assyrians had left behind, but we didn’t find everything until more than a month had gone by. Lady Judith received the largest portion of the spoils. She decided to dedicate all of Holofernes’ property to her god. We filled up lots of wagons and went to Jerusalem, along with lots of others from Bethulia. My mistress led the procession, singing and dancing and praising the god of Israel.

* * * Not long after, Lady Judith set me free, but I continued to work for her for a few years, until a certain tall Assyrian with dark, curly hair and brown eyes came back and once more swept me off my feet and sat me in front of him on his horse.

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Photos of Oman by Bard Judith

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Rumi, Religion & Beyond Religion

by Ya’qub Ibn Yusuf Here we are, not just in the season of Chanukah and Christmas and various other festivals, but in the season of the “Urs” of Mevlana, Rumi’s “wedding” night on December 17, when he passed away from this world and returned to his divine Beloved. I want to share some short poems of his, and to invite us to consider what Rumi had to say in relation to religion.

Ibraham Gamard is an American Mevlevi dervish, a follower of Rumi whose path in Sufism led him to embrace Islam. In 2004, he wrote a book called ‘Rumi and Islam’ in which he explains many Islamic references that are part of Rumi’s work but were left out of most of the popular English translations. In 2008, Gamard, collaborating with a Persian scholar originally form Afghanistan, published a careful, annotated translation of The Quatrains of Rumi (there are nearly 2000!). It’s now plain to see that in Rumi's four-line poems there are many references to Muhammad, the Quran and to Islam... and also direct references to Allah, which simply means “the Divine” or “God” with a capital G. Most of these have been interpreted away in the popular English translations by Coleman Barks and others. On the other hand, a universal-sounding phrase which often pops up in Gamard’s translations is “the religion of love”. Soon I’ll present some of Gamard’s translations, which I’ve polished slightly. Some of these point to Islamic concepts, and some point us beyond Islam, or any religion. But first let’s have a look at how “the religion of love” appears a little earlier, in this poem by an important Sufi thinker whom many consider to be “the greatest Sheikh” of Sufism, Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi: My heart has become able to take on all forms.

It is a pasture for gazelles, for monks an abbey.

It is a temple for idols, and for whoever circumambulates it, the Kaaba.

It is the tablets of the Torah and also the leaves of the Koran.

I believe in the Religion of Love, Whatever direction its caravans may take, For love is my religion and my faith.

And here’s one of my favorite Rumi poems, which I’ve translated into English from the Hebrew translation by my friend Alexander Feigin, based upon the original Persian. It appears in Rumi’s ‘Diwan’, a collection of both short and longer poems by Rumi that I published in Hebrew in Israel back in 2005: My beloved! This is our connection, yours and Mine.

Wherever you walk, there I’ll be beneath your feet.

How strange the rules of the Religion of Love!

Can it be? I see Your world, but I don’t see You!

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In the English we have to choose which words to capitalize, identifying them with God, and which to leave in lower case. The Hebrew, like the Persian, is more ambiguous. But I think that, upon reflection, we can see that this poem is a dialogue between God and the human being. At first God gives us the answer… and then we discover the question! I learned many years ago, from my teacher Reb Zalman SchachterShalomi, that the key to understanding all kinds of esoteric texts is often to reconstruct the question that the text proceeds to answer!

And yet, for all of his proclamation of “the religion of love”, we also find poems in which Rumi speaks explicitly of the Prophet Muhammad. Let’s proceed now with some of the poems that Gamard has made available to us. In the following poem Rumi describes how the creation, and more specifically the attributes of God that sustain the creation (like Mercy, Compassion, Wisdom, Light, Life and Truth), return to their source in the divine Essence through a Complete Human Being such as the Prophet Muhammad: The spirit that was bound within the form of the attributes, returned to the Essence by way of Muhammad Mustafa (the Chosen).

The moment it started to go, it said in joy, “Blessings on that joyful spirit of the Chosen!”

In another poem, Rumi states his devotion to Muhammad and to the Quran in no uncertain terms: I am the servant of the Quran, for as long as I live.

I am the dust on the path of Muhammad Mustafa.

If anyone derives anything but this from what I say, I am fed up with him and outraged by these words!

That’s quite a strong statement! And yet there are other poems in which Rumi speaks out strongly against identifying with being a Muslim:

Know, truly, that the lover is not a Muslim.

In the path of love, there’s no belief or unbelief.

In love there is no body, no intellect, no heart, no soul.

Anyone who hasn’t become like this, is not such a one.

One shouldn't get attached to believing this or that, and one shouldn't get attached to not believing. The path to which he is pointing goes beyond all kinds of outer and inner intellectual and emotional identification. This leads us to the well-known poem. This version, based on Gamard, reflects the Persian original: Beyond Islam and heresy, there is a field.

For us, there is a yearning within that expanse.

The Knower who reaches there will prostrate.

There, there is neither Islam nor heresy, nor any “where”.

This is a powerful poem. Beyond the concepts of “Islam” and “heresy” and attachment to them, there is an open space… of yearning. And yet the knower or gnostic, the attained mystic who reaches this wide-open space, continues to prostrate to God. Of course we are aware that prostration is an essential feature of Islamic prayer. Yet there’s nothing at all to suggest Islam in the popular version of this poem by Coleman Barks, which I also like as well: Out beyond ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass, things are too full to talk about. Concepts, ideas… even the phrase “each other” doesn’t make any sense.

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Coleman's version of the poem fits a world which is not “Islamic” – or, I might add, “Jewish” – a traditional world in which religion defines not just a set of beliefs but the totality of one’s relationship with one’s environment. Islam and Judaism aren't belief systems – they have much the same belief(s) about God. So it made sense that in Alexander Feigin’s Hebrew translation he continues to say, “Beyond Islam and heresy...” My sense is that here in Israel we can better understand the original text. In America, Islam looks like some kind of exotic religion. Here we are more familiar with Islam, and we can see it being, like Judaism, a total world-view.

Now Rumi is saying that we have to go beyond becoming fixed even in such a view, so as to become true “Knowers” of the Divine. It’s not that we stop practicing our religion, as a response to the Divine. But we stop thinking of it as defining our identity and enter the broader spiritual "field".

I like to suggest, as an alternative to the first line, “Beyond religion and secularism, there is a field.” Indeed, we live in a world in which the “secular” alternative stands opposite religion, and it too is a world-view and identity to which people may become attached. I do respect religion, especially Judaism and Islam, but I don’t really think of someone who doesn’t believe or practice a particular religion as a “heretic”. That’s a word which is only meaningful for very religious people! Like many of us these days, I am secular in some ways and in some ways I am religious. And if you want to tell me that I have to go beyond all that, beyond both sides of the equation… well, that makes sense to me.

Although he doesn’t speak of “secularism” per se, in the next poem Rumi pairs “heresy” not with Islam, but with the more general term “religion”. I’m happy to see that! This poem certainly fits the occasion when we celebrate the death of Rumi as a kind of “wedding”: I am heresy and religion, pureness and dregs.

I am old and young, and also a small child.

If I die, don’t say about me, “he’s dead.”

Say, “He died, came alive, and the Friend took him.”

In the following poem, we continue the theme of going beyond religious concepts, as well as other kinds of archetypal distinctions: On the path of Oneness, what is obedience or sin?

In the tavern lane, who is a beggar or king?

What if the face of the wandering dervish is bright or black?

On the highest heights of heaven, what is moon or sun?

And finally, we come to the last poem that I want to share. My feeling is that while Rumi might mean himself, he more likely meant that it is his uncompromising friend Shams who has “returned to hurl a sharp flame.” In any case, I think the “sharpness” of this poem will make more sense now that we’ve paved the way for it: I have now returned so that I might hurl a sharp flame at repentance and sin, wrongdoing and abstinence.

I have brought a flame that commands, “Everything that is other than God, get off the road!”

One can be obsessed with religion in general, or in particular with sin – what we see in others, or what we see in ourselves. While striving to discipline ourselves, we can become obsessed with ascetic practices. We can get hung up about all kinds of things, and I think that Rumi is speaking against getting caught in all the kinds of obsessions and distractions that may arise on the way to opening ourselves to the Divine.

May each of us find our way to turn from darkness to the light!

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Laden with Fruit & Always Green: A Meditation for Christmastide

By Avellina Balestri

I step through the wood of my soul, hushed by the breathless winter pre-dawn, gray as geese wings, touched by the softest whisper of a star’s light, shining unseen beyond the snow clouds.

Is it the ageless light of angelic faces?

Shall we see them brighten the sky’s lofty ceiling?

Shall the glory of the Lord be seen once more upon our mortal plain?

I step to the fringes of my soul, where the swaying ferns once grew, and the white stag once grazed, and the lips of June once kissed the lips of our inner Eden, our paradise lost…

Where is the guardian with his flaming sword?

Is he not within myself, splitting me down the center?

Where is the binding for my grievous wound?

I stand on the hill of my soul, setting common cares aside, as the frost licks the grass blades, immersed in wondering and foreboding, knowing that the longest night has begun to prepare for the sun.

Shall it rise upon our dancing day?

Will our Beloved beckon us to His great wedding feast?

We dream our infant dreams…

I stand by the river of my soul, its running brooks frozen like the blood of frightened animals when the hunters are upon them, hunters come to rob us of life through cold’s clinging.

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And is this cold so unlike our icy hellfire, that we ourselves created?

Is not the bitten apple the mirror of our broken worlds?

We still search for the fairest of them all‌ I stand at the crossroads of my soul, the liminal line, the knowledge of good and evil my parents deigned to choose for themselves, which I am too often drawn to mimic.

For is not evil a shadow of a good, a deception of reality?

A proclivity, a condition, a crack, a coil, a curse that may yet turn to blessing, a happy fault?

I stand in the meadow of my soul, that winter had won, and hear a silence more lovely than music unfolding from the center of all things, through which all things hold together.

Where will the dusty road lead the wandering pilgrim?

Where will the cobbled street lead the pining lover?

Is any path so far it cannot lead us home?

I stand in the city of my soul, and Bethlehem’s bread is the innocence we have long forgotten, long cast aside in our smug assurance, though inside we are only lost little children.

Dare we hope for some comfort and joy?

Dare we hope the fractious power itself will be torn asunder?

And grace streams down upon the blind, the lame, the sore-stained?

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I stand at the stable of my soul, and find a mother exhausted from birthing, lying in the straw, bringing forth the incarnate Word as light through glass, singing into the heart of creation a ballad of love.

And is that a wounded knight I see, as a newborn?

Is the blood of birth but a shadow of the flood to come?

The crimson wine that will melt the ice?

I stand beside the manger of my soul, and the image of my God takes fleshly substance, that He might be emptied out, all-vulnerable, shape of every tomb a womb.

Shall I bring a lamb to bleat, or my drum to play?

Shall I bring cheese, butter, and honey for the Lady’s pleasure?

Shall I bring gold for a king, incense for a god, or spices for a corpse?

I stand at the tree of my soul, springing up like the thorn bush, prickling like poverty, then sprouting emerald leaves and bearing scarlet fruit, and it is a tree of life and death and life restored…

O Noble tree, what fruit may be thy peer?

Sweetest wood, may my lips adore thee with a kiss?

And let winter-wearied hearts give birth to spring…

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Nativity Poem

By Ruth Asch Oh Jesus; God in a manger, Almighty power behind the universe and infant's breath.

I love you; cannot understand you – yet want to give you all my life; even my death.

For you are Love's perfection, you are Beauty, Justice, Peace, sweet Mercy wild – and a simple, domestic thing: breast-swelling, eye-dewing baby child.

The dance of galaxies, the singing silence, throbbing suns, the quantum leap, are far away, yet hid in you; wrapped in your milky smile are all the tears we weep.

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I see a crumpled skin, a fluffy head and fingerlets which grope and curl.

Yet for you the deep waves brew their storm, bright rainbows arc, meteors hurl.

Tiny one, I offer you my little love. In your own heart lock it away;

humble then from infancy, with you grow it wise in grace to strength one day.

Awe and passion flighting, humans are fickle, weak, and I am selfish, proud.

But, small-for-us Eternal one; Faith alters everything and Life springs from a shroud.

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Vayeshev: Heaven and Hell from a Jewish Perspective

By Yosef Serebryanski

Delving into the past can be useful in helping us to better understand our identity, especially in regards to the derivation of our attitudes, beliefs, emotions and thoughts. When our curiosity about our past, as well as our future, is balanced, we can use the information that comes our way as guidance and a stabilizing force for motivation and growth.

Yet, our desire to know the future (as well as our pre-occupation with the past) is often so extreme that it tends to distort our perception and behavior. The Torah (Bible) singles out specific stories of ancient times and elaborates on them to the extent that it is needed for our future, the future of Israel and that of the Jewish people.

Regarding the pursuit of the future and discussion of the past, there is an elaborate description of its origin (and the journey of the Jewish people) in the story told about Yosef (Joseph) and Yehuda (Judah.) There is much discussion about a future Messiah from Yosef and Yehudah. It was their father, Jacob, who continued the legacy of Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 37:1). “Yaakov (Jacob) settled in the land of his fathers.”

The place was Hebron (Chevron) as mentioned in Genesis (35:27 and 37:14). According to Yonason ben Uziel, Jacob’s sending of Yosef to visit his brothers came by advice of (the spirit of) Abraham. Jacob walked with Yosef from Chevron to the valley (Emek Chevron) in order to see him off on his journey. During this walk they had a discussion. Many years later it was by virtue of a description of the contents of that discussion that Yosef was able to assure his father via the message sent with his brothers, that he was still alive and flourishing as a ruler in Egypt. The Hebrew word that is used to tell us that Jacob settled is shev and not gor. The word “shev” has a connotation of being a peaceful action. Additionally, the verse uses the word “megooray” to say the place his father had lived.

Megooray has a variety of meanings. Residence, young animal (Ezekiel 19:2, Lamentations 4:3), as semblage (Ezekiel 21:7), granary (Haggai 2:19), fear (Psalms 31:14, Jeremiah 6:25), terror or a hole that has plaster smeared within to hold something. In Aramaic it also means fall (Genesis 49:17, Ezekiel 39:3).

Rearranged, the letters of the word megoor becomes gemoor, which means finished or cut off as the Aramaic translation in Job 23:17. It is a word that does not hold the same peaceful feeling as the word “shev.”

A child derives peace and comfort from the knowledge that parents and family arrange to take care of his

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or her needs. Adults also want to have the feeling of security and safety. Despite these general definitions, there are people who want to live as far away from their parents as possible. This is often due to pain and discomfort that is a result of extreme disharmony between them.

Although Jacob wanted to dwell in comfort, he ended up becoming distraught over issues that were associated with his children. Jacob’s life became torturous. First, his most beloved wife died. A while later her son disappeared. While it is common to use the terms heaven and hell as referring to conditions after death, it can also describe the living conditions that some people suffer during their time here. When everything is comfortable and going smoothly, a person associates it akin to living in heaven. When thing go very wrong, causing a person’s daily experiences and feelings to be shaky and unbalanced, the person may associate that feeling as being akin to “living in hell.”

On a less tangible plane, when the energy or consciousness of a person leaves the body, it is dead. Yet the energy that is associated with the body of the deceased is not dead. When it is stuck in the physical place it inhabited while alive in the body, it is not free to pursue its spiritual journey. It then experiences the torture that people refer to as hell. When that energy is released, the soul can progress to its proper place, which is called heaven.

The terms heaven and hell have been used for millennium to appeal to the fear factor that controls people and their behavior. Leaders have wrongly created a definable system of reward and punishment in order to set their own standards and dictates of behaviour. There is often a very thin line between wanting to guide people to behave properly in their connection with the Creator, and wanting to affect behavior that is either self-serving or just easier to calculate and create pat methods to handle.

Being a leader is not easy. Leaders and role models must learn that while they may set the tone for many, there are those who must do things that they are here to do in the mode that befits their gifts as well as their purpose. A mold does not, and cannot, fit every person in the same way. Although today we are not sure of delineations, we must at least bear in mind that there are some who do not fit the “all or nothing” mode because they are specifically in tune with their identity and needs. This is a concept that needs to be explored, since for years some of our most revered Kabbalists and teachers have known the wisdom of this but have kept a closed silence on the issue.

The word for hell in Hebrew is Gehenom. It is the name of a physical place, “Gay ben Henom” (Kings 2 23:10). Joshua 15:8, 18:16 mentions the name Gey ben Henom and then repeats it as Gehenom without the word ben. Nehemiah 11:30 mentions the place Gehenom. It was a place of fire and death. In Jeremiah 7:31, “They built the altars of Tofes that are in the valley (Gey) of the son of Henom, to burn their sons and daughters in fire … (7:32) … days are coming when it will be known as the valley of killing.” Chronicles 2, 33:6 states, “He passed his sons through the fire in the valley of the son of Henom… he was profuse in doing that which was evil in the eyes of God, to anger Him.” And in Zohar 1:254a, “In the land of Gey is the width and breadth of Gehenom.” “The land of Gey is called Gey ben Hinom.”.

In Jewish traditional texts there are descriptions of seven worlds, one of which is called Gey. A description and analysis of these realms is beyond the scope of this page. The Hebrew “Gehenom” is composed of two words “Gey” and “Henom.” Gey is a valley. “He buried him (Moses) in the valley (gey) opposite Beth-Peor” (Deuteronomy 34:6). “And the valley (gey)” (Yehoshua 8:11) “For it is a day of turmoil and trampling and confusion... in the valley (gey) of vision” (Isaiah 22:5)” Gey also means ego. Geyha (Hebrew letters gimmel yud hey) mean “brightness” or “shine”. Nom means “sleep” or “speech”. Henom means “they are”. In the Talmud Eruvim 19a, Hinom is used to refer to acts of vanity.

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Gehenom is associated with physical death and negative action. Hell is a physical place of death and destruction. It was a physical place on earth. Apparently during the course of time, the understanding of it became transposed to mean a terrible place that one goes to after they die. At some point it became used to scare people about what could happen to them if they did not behave in a certain manner during their lifetime. The success of this fear tactic encouraged its use within most religious and social beliefs. It became key into frightening people about what would happen when we die. It was easy to replace the unknown with definition for people who fear the unknown above many things.

If you look at the words and imagination that people use for life after this world, they are not spiritual, but all based in their limited physical perception. For others, their vision of the spiritual is based on the physical energy they have created and that is how they experience the spiritual.

It is interesting to note that the gehenom (or hell) that is described to scare people about what could happen after they die is never mentioned in the Five books of Moses, the Prophets or the Scriptures. The word first was used to refer to negativity in the physical and lower world. Following that, people also used the term in relationship to the spiritual realm.

There has been similar misuse of the word Shomayim being translated as “Heaven.” The word shomayim is composed of two words, Shom (there is) and Mayim (water.) This would indicate that the word Shomayim refers to the sky from which rain falls. An alternate way to understand the words is to see the words aish (fire) and mayim (water) within the letters. “Ohr and Choshech (light and dark) were combined by the Holy One Blessed is He and Shomayim was brought forth” (Zohar 2,164b). The Shomayim made of aish and mayim was solidified through Ruach (spirit) (Zohar 1,77a).

Thus, Shomayim possesses complete balance. As a result, it came to be used for the word heaven. Yet the original understanding was not meant as the “heaven” that people envision as a place that rewards them for good behavior upon their death. Precise balance is a wonderful thing but that does not make the word transferrable to present the concept that man has invented to attach comfort to our understanding of what is beyond death. When people limit themselves trying to attach esoteric knowledge to the physical, they might connect with the terminology on a personal and physical level. Yet it does not help them if they do not understand the concept of the spiritual realms to which these terms truly apply. This brings greater limitations in their attempt to have a direct connection with the Source of Life, the Creator of all existence.

We have reached an age when it is critical to understand that it is incumbent upon mankind to explore and learn, use the gift of understanding that we are given. It is time to remove the blockages that were planted over the centuries through words that serve to block our personal connection with the Creator. It is time to reverse the abuse of those who thought they alone were allowed to learn on behalf of others and then dispense whatever information they felt appropriate.

In today’s age of information and exchange there is simply no reason that people cannot do some personal research or find themselves a teacher who will help them take responsibility for their knowledge and its applications. Doing so will go a long way to erasing some of the negative energies that have influenced our “just” societies and caused horrific results. This can be an opening to restore balance to humanity.

Jacob represented a person who was aware of the potential for balance in each moment. Although he too was blocked for many years, he never gave up the endeavor to achieve that balance. We must all learn from his example not to give up. We must learn to mold ourselves to that flow and balance, and leave man-made perceptions behind, as we unwittingly crippled ourselves with vivid imaginations that are loosely associated to reality. Armed with truth, we move forward as one…

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Magic in the Sand (TK)

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Magic in the Sand (TK)

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Magic in the Sand (TK)

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Magic in the Sand (TK)

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C.S. Lewis and the Calormenes: A Critique of Narnia’s Arabesque Baddies

By Avellina Balestri

Stereotyping all things “other” has been something of a given in the history of humanity since the first concepts of tribal, religious, and territorial distinctions emerged. The East and West divide between Christians and Muslims is certainly no exception, hammered home by centuries of wars and rumors of wars, spurred on by the instinct to simplify the complexity of anything perceived to be a threat, creating cardboard cut-out images defined by certain aspects or attributes, usually overblown, taken out of context, and spun to the eternal negative.

Of course, this tendency is exacerbated in time of open conflict, when both sides seek to validate their cause by demonizing their opponent in favor of bedtime stories and campfire tales. For example, during the Crusades, while European mothers frightened their children into behaving with stories of bronze-featured, thickly-bearded men with turbans and curved swords, while Middle Eastern mothers reared their children on blood-curdling tales of clean-shaven, pale-featured, armor clad giants with battle axes and broad swords.

Neither party seemed particularly eager to focus on the effect the sun had in distinguishing human features in various parts of the globe, and preferred to spin their sagas about the differences as they pleased.

Indeed, one anecdote tells how, at war’s end, a Frankish nobleman came to negotiation with the sultan Saladin, and was ushered into his private quarters by a skeleton-crew servant staff. He happened to stumble into the sultan’s youngest son, age seven, who completely freaked out and leapt behind his bewildered father for protection, believing a monster or madman had entered their home turf, given that his blue eyes were seen as a sign of possession and his shaven state as a sign of insanity, for what normal man could possibly want to emasculate himself?

Centuries later, in the world of children’s fantasy literature, C.S. Lewis would carry on the not-so-noble pursuit of stereotyping huge swaths of “others” in his Chronicles of Narnia, where he created the Calormenes, fantastical Muslim boogie men, with turbans, curved swords, spicy food, crescent-marked coins, slavery, abusive would-be husbands, a code of stiff courtesy (which is being used for devious purposes, of course), a sophisticated mercantile system (also intent solely on infiltration), and exotic poetry (which, according to Lewis, is fairly pointless because the girly romance jazz is down to a drip). Oh, yeah, and there’s also this multi-headed vulture god thingy they worship and sacrifice people to ever and anon, for flavor. And their locale is hot, like really hot…denoted by the name “calor”, which means heat in Latin!

It’s safe to say that Lewis was a world culture nut, and was combining elements of multiple different Imperial regimes throughout history, most especially that of the Ottoman Turks and their undeniably brutal imperial conquests. But in the true style of an Edwardian Brit enmeshed in a society somewhat familiar with brutal imperial conquests, he enjoyed the cultural alphabet soup-slurping on his own terms. While there was likely no malice intended, it was this shallow type depiction of the Arab world, bereft of contextual nuance or putting oneself in another’s shoes, that continued to feed into a phobic attitude that had been cultivated since the time of the Crusades and continues to the present day.

Lewis seems to have ripped off whatever exotic little morsels suited his purposes and then just made up the rest to enhance the villainous effect, like the vulture god, Tash. While it might be argued he was picking up on

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some pre-Islamic pagan Arabic deities, it seems more likely he was trying to wedge an imaginary super-gap between the Christian and Islamic understandings of God. In fact, the plot-line of the last book in the series involves the misguided attempt by many characters to conflate Aslan with Tash as being “the same”, reminiscent of the ongoing discussions about whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God. Incidentally, this conflation also ushers in the apocalypse for the Narnians, which fits rather well with the modern Evangelical interpretations of the Book of Revelation. If Lewis had really wanted to do an analysis of the Christian and Muslim theological gap, he should have had both groups worship “The Emperor Across the Sea”, and then have differing views on Aslan, whether he is worthy of worship as divine, or simply worthy of respect as a messenger.

But Lewis wasn’t in it for accuracy as much as to spin a colorful yarn that stoked the imaginations of mostly Western, Christian children. And if the spine-tingling savagery and exotic delights of far-flung locales could add flavor, more power to them. What he could not have predicted was the extent of Islamic immigration that would come to the UK in the aftermath of the British Empire’s collapse, and how a whole generation of young Muslims would fall in love with and then become disillusioned by his fantasy works.

One young Pakistani boy, struggling to get through the British school system amidst relentless prejudice, wrote that he initially found some comfort and escapism in the world of Narnia. He even became emotionally invested to the point of getting crushes on some of the girls in the stories and crying when anyone special to him, especially Aslan, died. But then, some books down the road in the series, the Calormenes showed up in all their stereotypical, eye-sore-inducing glory, and they brought along with them an identity crisis for the young reader who found various Islamic norms splattered everywhere in the most unflattering of fashions.

This was most striking the case when “May he live forever!” was inserted as the magic catch phrase for Tash that sounded quite a bit like “Peace be upon him!” as used by Muslims at the mention of Muhammad. If this wasn’t incriminating enough, given they were fast becoming the arch-baddies in the series, his fellow classmates, also reading the series, began to pick on the school’s lone Muslim student as a Calormene.

Eventually, one of his teachers revealed to him in a rather haughty fashion that the whole series was really an allegory for Christianity vs. “the forces of darkness”, something that he had ironically not realized the whole time.

This sort of story is not an isolated incident, and spawned a small movement of “Concerned Muslim Mothers of the UK” to discuss whether or not Narnia was suitable reading material for their children, or was simply going to send them over the edge into a state of theological confusion, self-loathing, and possibly hunger strikes over spicy food…which Lewis had subliminally convinced them was an omen of evil. In essence, it proves reminiscent of the “Concerned Christian Mothers” movement over the Harry Potter series.

As a fascinating side-note, some Muslims who encountered Narnia found parallels between Aslan and a famous figure from Islam, Imam Ali bin Abi Talib, the cousin of Muhammad who went on to marry Muhammad’s daughter, Fatima, called the Queen of the Women of Paradise. Famed both for his skills as an incomparable warrior and as a wise sage, symbolism associated with Ali includes Arabic calligraphy in the shape of a lion underscored by his trademark double-pointed scimitar. His poetic and ethical writings set the standard for much Islamic literature to come, and he considered by many within his society, and even some admirers beyond it, to be the ideal of manhood, able to balance both military prowess and the finer arts. After serving as Caliph (ruler), and well-regarded for his justice and generosity, he was killed while at prayer in the

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mosque by an assassin’s poisoned sword, thus making many come to view him as a martyr. This is yet another reason why he might be seen as a “type” of Aslan for readers approaching the story from an Islamic perspective. “People are of two types,” Ali famously said. “They are either your brothers in faith, or your equals in humanity.”

In recent years, when ISIS was wreaking havoc in Mosul, Iraq and pressing all inhabitants of the area to convert to their fanatic interpretation of Islam or be killed, the Shiite Muslim shrine where Ali is buried took his quotation to heart and offered shelter to fleeing refugees, whatever their background or belief, including the beleaguered Christian community. Muslim families also opened their homes to displaced Christians while recounting the historical story of a band of Muslims that were led by the brother of Ali, Jaffar, finding safe refuge in Christian-controlled Abyssinia. To this day, some Orthodox Christians join in the annual pilgrimage walks in remembrance of the death of Ali and his sons Hussan and Hussain as a sign of solidarity and gratitude for the help in their utmost hour of need. So perhaps this association of Ali with Aslan has merit after all.

I do find it interesting that the first Narnia book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which I believe to be the most clearly Christian of the series, seems to have been universally accepted and beloved. It was almost always the later books in the series that became increasingly overbearing and affronting for non-Christian readers, particularly Muslim readers. Perhaps this is because the first book was, by its very nature, an allegory about the struggle between a universal good and a universal evil, personified through Aslan and the White Witch, whereas later installments focused on allegories for real-world international power struggles and culture slashes, slanted towards the bias of the author himself.

This, I feel, undermined Lewis’ intent to teach his readers about the Christian understanding of life and spirituality in a creative and captivating way, which he achieved so well the first time but tumbled down the tubes in successive installments that he shot out to his publishers over his summer holiday breaks. With LWW, you didn’t need to be Christian in order to find some common thread in it that could apply to all readers of goodwill, nor even to appreciate the Christian worldview for what it is. The trouble came not in retelling the Christian story, but in distorting the Muslim one. Even worse, perhaps, is the patronizing tone he chose to take in examining another world which he could not hope to properly understand.

Lewis chose to settle for an Arabesque fantasia meant to prop up the notion that European civilization has always been inherently more human and humane than anything that the East could produce, ignoring the reality that even the Crusaders themselves took many aspects of Eastern culture to help skyrocket their own to new heights, both technologically and artistically. Both universes certainly had their fair share of historical atrocities and intolerance of the “other”, but also their fair share of triumphs and moments where coexistence actually was reached. The real trouble came in when neither side wanted to give each other credit where credit was due.

Practically the only thing Lewis could manage to say vaguely “nice” about the Calormenes is that they were good storytellers, but even then there’s a stinger, in that the poetry of the Narnians is portrayed as being more exciting and humanistic than the moralizing maxims and ubiquitous language of the Calormenes.

In essence, the former is painted as being more honest, straight-forward, and hearty (like “Roast Beef of Old England” and all that) and the latter is painted as being magicians, tricksters, and conjurers (like Salaam and snake in the basket).

This is a nice pat on the back from one Englishman to all others, but falls pretty short of the mark. During the time of the Crusades, the actual art of poetry was largely an Eastern specialty, and the development of the tradition in Europe had much to do with Western contact with the East. The different peoples of Europe obviously had their own Pagano-Christian storytelling and mystical traditions to draw from (see “Dream of the Rood” and the works of St. Hildegard of Bingen), but the artform as it flourished in the Frankish courts was greatly influenced by the Sufi tradition that spawned the likes of Rumi, Hafiz, and Ibn Arabi.

The main difference was that the flowing, almost liquid sensuality used to describe encounters with the divine was changed to describe earthly, courtly love. Basically, what started as a soul-rending ode to the love of and longing for Allah, the Source of all Reality, ended as a half-baked attempt to woo some curvaceous

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girl named Suzette down at the baguette shop…

Yeah…anyway…*coughs* Granted, I’m glad both Eastern and Western literary traditions flourished in their own right as they did, but it’s almost as if Lewis is pulling his own teeth trying to give his “others” a compliment on something, anything! Even in his introduction of Arabs as storytellers, their sole purpose becomes one of keeping a western audience mused or entertained, while at the same time having little or no personal story themselves.

They are the exterior reality, while the Anglo characters are the interior reality. In essence, it’s all about using people as eye-candy.

But these “Turkish Delights” have now faded out of favor with modern readership sensibilities, and readers are taking a more critical look at Lewis and his depictions. Some more extreme variants have even called for Narnia to be removed from reading lists due to racist content. My personal opinion on this is that it would be as much of an overkill as the depiction of the Calormenes themselves. Lewis was undeniably imperfect, and his perspectives could be archaic and offensive, but that is the case with almost all classic authors. Purging them in total would just be a disservice, and also a form of whitewashing the past instead of learning from it.

Hence, my recommendation would be to add a nice little disclaimer page to the beginning of each of the questionable Calormene-centric volumes to let the “Concerned Muslim Mothers” (and any parents concerned about racist connotations infecting their children’s perception of others) know what’s ahead. Having said this, if I were actually planning some sort of school curriculum, I’d keep it to LWW as mandatory classic reading and then abandon ship (or should I say Treader?).

On a concluding note, there is something else lasting that came from the Calormene inclusion in Narnia, and that has to do with the character of Emeth, who appears in the final book in the series, The Last Battle.

Through him, we find Lewis indicated his own hope in the universal possibility of salvation, based upon good deed and sincere intent, even including those for whom he is not very sympathetic. For Lewis was a high Church Anglican, and therefore more closely aligned with positions held by Catholicism than Evangelicalism, even though the latter have tended to embrace him as their own. Indeed, there has been no small amount of controversy over Lewis’ assertion that God, personified as Aslan, will accept all good services, and reject all bad services, regardless of the name used or even doctrines held.

Aslan is depicted as beautifully telling Emeth, in words worthy of Rumi: “Beloved… unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.”

Emeth replies in kind: “My Happiness is so great that it even weakens me like a wound. And this is the marvel of marvels, that he called me Beloved...”

Perhaps, in spite of all the twists in the road, C.S. Lewis and the Calormenes have left us with some small seed of unity after all.

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Jihad In Islam: What Is The Meaning Of It?

By Katie Quirk

Jihad in Islam. Just looking at those words alone without any context stirs up so many different ideas in people.

For people in the west, jihad in Islam seems scary. The concept creates fear.

People see jihad in Islam as a danger to the west. They view it as a threat to national security, freedom and democracy.

You’ll often hear other words (often incorrectly associated with jihad in Islam) thrown in by the media and politicians as well: Extremist. Islamist. Terrorism. Radicalism. Infidels. Holy war. Jihadist. ISIL. It gets people asking all sorts of questions.

What is jihad in Islam? What is the difference between radical and non-radical peaceful Muslims? What is the reason for Islamic jihad or holy war?

I’m not a scholar of Islam, but I hope I’m able to shed some light on these questions for you.

Literal Meaning of Jihad in Islam First of all, let’s put all of the ideas that we might have about jihad in Islam aside. The word Jihad comes from the root word jahada, which means to struggle. In Islam, this struggle is in the way of Allah.

JIHAD: From the Arabic root meaning “to strive,” “to exert,” “to fight”; exact meaning depends on context (The Oxford Dictionary of Islam).

The Best Form of Jihad It isn’t jihad in war that’s the best form of jihad. It’s jihad by telling the truth. It’s fighting evil through one’s words rather than through violence. It was narrated from Tariq bin Shihab that, “A man asked the Prophet, when he had put his leg in the stirrup: ‘Which kind of Jihad is best?' He said: ‘a word of truth spoken before an unjust ruler’” (Sunan an-Nasa’i).

Take non-violent action by speaking out against injustice and oppression against people.

Write letters to the government. Use your social media platforms and create petitions to make change.

‫ﷺ‬

or pbuh means “Peace Be Upon Him”

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Narrated Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri: “Somebody asked, ‘O Allah’s Messenger! (‫ )ﷺ‬Who is the best among the people?’ Allah’s Messenger (‫ )ﷺ‬replied ‘A believer who strives his utmost in Allah’s Cause with his life and property’” (Sahih al-Bukhari).

According to Islamic teaching, those who strive in the way of Allah are the best of the Muslims. They live their whole lives according to Islam. True Muslims pray their obligatory five daily prayers and give zakah (charity) to the poor and needy.

Jihad Against Oneself This form of jihad is all about fighting the evil desires within oneself.

We are constantly at battle with the evil whispering of the Shayatin. A Shaytan can refer to a human, jinn or animal that is evil, harmful and defiant. The goal of the Shayatin is to lead mankind astray from the worship of Allah.

“And thus We have made for every prophet an enemy – devils from mankind and jinn, inspiring to one another decorative speech in delusion. But if your Lord had willed, they would not have done it, so leave them and that which they invent” (Qur’an 6:112).

Inner jihad can also relate to the struggle involved in improving oneself.

Here are some examples common to Muslims: Learning to recite the Qur’an in Arabic. Forgiving those who have wronged us. Raising pious and righteous children. Finding the time to pray at work. Wearing hijab for the first time.

Being patient during difficult times. Accepting the decree of Allah. Stopping haram habits.

Jihad Through Giving Da’wah Giving da’wah (spreading the message of Islam) is also a form of jihad in Islam.

Jihad through giving da’wah can be verbal (e.g. telling friends, family and neighbours; delivering a khutbah; making YouTube videos etc.). It can also be written (e.g. writing books, blogs, essays on Islam etc.).

Today there are 1.6 billion Muslims globally. Without da’wah, it’s unlikely the message of Islam would have spread beyond a small corner to the Arab world to be the second largest religion in the world.

Treating Parents Well ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr bin Al-‘as (May Allah be pleased with them) reported: “A man came to the Prophet (‫ )ﷺ‬of Allah and said, ‘I swear allegiance to you for emigration and Jihad, seeking reward from Allah.’ He (‫ )ﷺ‬said, ‘Is any of your parents alive?’ He said, ‘Yes, both of them are alive.” He (‫ )ﷺ‬then asked, ‘Do you want to seek reward from Allah?’ He replied in the affirmative.

Thereupon Messenger of Allah (‫ )ﷺ‬said, ‘Go back to your parents and keep good company with them’” (Riyad as-Salihin).

Go on, go and have a cuppa with your parents (if you can)! Spoil them and give them gifts. Be kind to them.

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Islamic Conditions of War War is certainly a form of jihad in Islam. But certain conditions must be met before Muslims can go to war with others.

In Surah Al-Baqarah, Allah commands Muslims to react to violent opposition by fighting back. “Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed. Allah does not like transgressors” (Qur’an 2:190).

In the following ayat of Surah Al-Haj, Allah gives the People of the Book (Jews, Christians and Sabians who worship Allah) the right to defend themselves when being fought against.

“Permission [to fight] has been given to those who are being fought, because they were wronged. And indeed, Allah is competent to give them victory. [They are] those who have been evicted from their homes without right – only because they say, ‘Our Lord is Allah .’ And were it not that Allah checks the people, some by means of others, there would have been demolished monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which the name of Allah is much mentioned. And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might” (Qur’an 22:39-40).

Allah defends the People of the Book by giving them the ability to defend themselves. If He didn’t do so, their places of worship would be destroyed.

Hadith from Sahih Muslim Prophet Muhammad (‫ )ﷺ‬had specific instructions for the Muslims during war. These were to be practiced once a war was permitted to take place.

It has been reported from Sulaiman b. Buraida through his father that when the Messenger of Allah (‫ )ﷺ‬appointed anyone as leader of an army or detachment he would especially exhort him to fear Allah and to be good to the Muslims who were with him. He would say, “Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war, do not embezzle the spoils; do not break your pledge; and do not mutilate (the dead) bodies; do not kill the children.

When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them.

When you lay siege to a fort and the besieged appeal to you for protection in the name of Allah and His Prophet, do not accord to them the guarantee of Allah and His Prophet, but accord to them your own guarantee and the guarantee of your companions for it is a lesser sin that the security given by you or your companions be disregarded than that the security granted in the name of Allah and His Prophet be violated.

When you besiege a fort and the besieged want you to let them out in accordance with Allah’s Command, do not let them come out in accordance with His Command, but do so at your own) command, for you do not know whether or not you will be able to carry out Allah’s behest with regard to them” (Sahih Muslim).

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The Muslim Shouldn’t Wish to Meet the Enemy The Prophet (‫ )ﷺ‬also advised against looking to fight enemies.

Narrated by Abu Huraira: “The Prophet (‫ )ﷺ‬said: ‘Do not wish to meet the enemy, but when you meet the enemy, be patient’” (Sahih al-Bukhari).

Abu Bakr’s Commands in War Abu Bakr was Prophet Muhammad’s (‫ )ﷺ‬closest sahabi (companion). He was the first man to accept Islam after the Prophet (‫ )ﷺ‬first received revelation. After Prophet Muhammad (‫ )ﷺ‬passed away, Abu Bakr assumed the role of the first caliph (leader of Muslim community). He instructed the Muslims to act justly in war.

It was narrated that Hudhaifah bin Yaman said: “The Messenger of Allah (‫ )ﷺ‬said: ‘I do not know how long I will stay among you, so follow the example of these two after I am gone,’ and he pointed to Abu Bakr and Umar,’” (Sunan Ibn Majah).

Hadith from Muwatta Malik “Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn said that Abu Bakr as-Siddiq was sending armies to ash-Sham. He went for a walk with Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan who was the commander of one of the battalions. It is claimed that Yazid said to Abu Bakr, “Will you ride or shall I get down?” Abu Bakr said, “I will not ride and you will not get down. I intend these steps of mine to be in the way of Allah.”

Then Abu Bakr advised Yazid, “You will find a people who claim to have totally given themselves to Allah. Leave them to what they claim to have given themselves. You will find a people who have shaved the middle of their heads, strike what they have shaved with the sword.

I advise you ten things: Do not kill women or children or an aged, infirm person. Do not cut down fruit-bearing trees.

Do not destroy an inhabited place. Do not slaughter sheep or camels except for food. Do not burn bees and do not scatter them. Do not steal from the booty, and do not be cowardly.”” (Muwatta Malik).

The Qur’an on Those Who Have Surrendered In the Qur’an, Allah makes a prohibition on Muslims killing those who have surrendered in war. “Except for those who take refuge with a people between yourselves and whom is a treaty or those who come to you, their hearts strained at [the prospect of] fighting you or fighting their own people. And if Allah had willed, He could have given them power over you, and they would have fought you. So if they remove themselves from you and do not fight you and offer you peace, then Allah has not made for you a cause [for fighting] against them” (Qur’an 4:90).

“And if they incline to peace, then incline to it [also] and rely upon Allah. Indeed, it is He who is the Hearing, the Knowing” (Qur’an 8:61).

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Be Good to the Prisoners Allah orders the Muslims to be good to the prisoners and feed them: “And they give food in spite of love for it to the needy, the orphan, and the captive, [Saying], ‘We feed you only for the countenance of Allah. We wish not from you reward or gratitude’” (Qur’an 76:8-9).

Jihad for Women The best form of jihad for women is Hajj and Umrah (pilgrimage to the Holy Ka’ba).

It was narrated that ‘Aishah said: “I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, is Jihad obligatory for women?’ He said: ‘Yes: Upon them is a Jihad in which there is no fighting: Al-Hajj and Al-‘Umrah’” (Sunan Ibn Majah).

At the time of Prophet Muhammad, (‫ )ﷺ‬women participated in war through providing medical assistance. Narrated

by Ar-Rabi’bint Mu’auwidh: “We used to take part in holy battles with the Prophet (‫ )ﷺ‬by providing the people with water and serving them and bringing the killed and the wounded back to Medina” (Sahih al-Bukhari).

Final Thoughts Terrorists who do evil deeds while claiming they are “fighting in the cause of Islam” have got it all wrong. At the same time, Muslims correctly practicing the religion encounter Islamophobia from strangers on the street. But the world doesn’t need a blanket ban on Islam. It also doesn’t need people spreading hatred towards Islam online. What it does need is proper education about the background and nuances involved in the Islamic concepts of jihad. Good education starts with good parenting and proper schooling. We need to encourage others to consult with people of knowledge and be ready to enter into dialogue about these topics with Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

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By Hannah Kenner Based on Genesis 40:13-16

Mandrakes (TK)

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By Jeremy Henzell-Thomas It has always seemed presumptuous, even somewhat preposterous, to me for men to pontificate in an authoritarian manner about the role of women in Islam as if the feminine principle is something which needs to be rigidly confined or patronisingly relegated to a narrow domain of activity. This can be especially jarring when it is comes from hectoring male figures who show no evidence of the psychological and spiritual integration which depends on the development of the feminine principle within themselves. To remind myself of the dangers of male authoritarianism, I collect magnetic stickers which I give to my wife to post on our fridge. My favourites are: “Everyone is entitled to my opinion,” and “How many roads must a man walk down before he is lost.”

I say this not in the least because I want to uphold a unisex agenda which obliterates the precious differences between the sexes, for, as the Qur’an says, “everything have We created in pairs” (51: 49), and “We have created you all out of a male and a female…” (49:13). It is this elemental polarity underpinning the whole of creation which is the most obvious expression of divinely ordained diversity. The dance of this polarity is the excitement we call “love”, for “…among His wonders is this: He creates for you mates out of your own kind, so that you might incline towards them, and He engenders love and tenderness between you: in this, behold, there are messages indeed for people who think!” (Qur’an 30: 21).

Yes, “vive la difference”, but at the same time the Qur’an tells us that diversity is ordained for us so that we may come to know one another, and this applies not only to nations and tribes but also to the realm of gender relations. So, what does it mean for men and women to know one another? My approach to this is a psychological one, because we need to realise that no human being is complete unless he or she has integrated what is complementary to his or her own sex. It is this integration of what is complementary which is the deepest kind of “knowing” of the “other”. Integration can never arise from a distanced kind of “tolerance”, still less of course from the denial of the worth of the other, but arises from active and direct engagement with and profound respect for the creative principles which the “other” embodies.

Let me express this in a more concrete way. It is often said that the kind of man who is particularly attractive to women is the warrior-poet, that is, the man of distinctly masculine qualities, notably courage, who yet has a poetic soul. Conversely, the kind of woman most treasured by men is the woman of spirit who displays actively intrepid qualities without sacrificing her softer feminine nature. To integrate himself, the man weds to his innate quality of “spirit” a “watery” element of soulfulness, and the woman weds to her innate quality of “soul” a “fiery” element of “spiritedness”. Neither takes too much of the “other”, for this would unbalance the authenticity of what it means to be a man or a woman. Too much “soulfulness” for a man can make him languid and effeminate (we have all seen those pictures of effete Victorian poet-aesthetes languishing on couches) and too much “spiritedness” for a woman can make her insensitive and strident (and we have all

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exemplars of the new breed of women who believe they have to sacrifice their positive feminine qualities in order to succeed as “managers”). But a man with no taste of the feminine soul is in the grip of a masculine one-sidedness which distorts positive strength into negative aggression, domination, brutishness, and an inability to relate; and a woman with no taste of the masculine spirit is in the grip of a negative feminine onesidedness which makes of her a “handless maiden”, passive, fragile, swooning, limp and dependent. In Aristotelian terms, these vices arise from an excess or defect of an essential virtue. For perfect exemplars of integrated people who embodied the golden mean, we need look no further than our Prophet Muhammad and his first love, Khadijah.

I suggest that one of the most pressing needs at this time is for a new breed of ambassadors who can find the points of convergence between the best of all traditions. The key quality that such a task demands is the ability to relate, and this underpins all these qualities: emotional maturity, psychological insight, social intelligence, communicative competence, aesthetic awareness and inter-cultural sensitivity. We could add to this the quality of empathy.

I also suggest that these relational qualities are typically developed not through those occupations traditionally valued by Muslims as a means to acquire money and status, such as engineering, medicine, computer science, and law, but through an education rich in the Humanities. Studying literature, for example, is a good way to develop understanding of human character and relationships, humane values and the moral consequences of actions. The cognitive, social and affective benefits of music education, drama and other creative pursuits are well documented by research. All such activities promote a sense of connectivity. Of course, the ability to relate is also nurtured in the home and wider society through a network of family and social relationships, and this is a strength of Muslim society as a whole, so I am not in the least suggesting that Muslims without an education in the Humanities are incapable of relating effectively to other people or other perspectives. But what I am saying is that there is a particular need at this time to bring out those essentially feminine, relational qualities in a climate which has dangerously overvalued the masculine and therefore threatens our capacity for integration, both within ourselves and within culture and society.

And let us be clear that this imbalance, while so easy to see in authoritarian perversions of Islam rooted in fear and hatred of women, is very much present in Western society too. This may sound surprising, because we associate Western civil society with female emancipation and gender equality. But I am not making a point about legal rights to “equality”, absolutely fundamental as these rights are to any decent society, whether based in Western concepts of civic society or in the Qur’an itself. There are blatantly evident imbalances and injustices in the Muslim world which need correction through legislation, but the imbalance in the West is not essentially a legal matter; it is a psychological problem caused by an over-valuation of a masculine outlook, and to remedy it we need psychological insight. It is not difficult to see that the relational and affective mode which I associate with the feminine principle is increasingly at risk in a culture which gives such eminence to thinking, managing, and controlling over feeling, cooperating and nurturing. The bias towards thinking over feeling in Western culture, especially in corporate and business environments, is well known by occupational psychologists who use the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Inventory) to produce personality profiles. MBTI practitioners are trained to make corrections for it in scoring questionnaires.

Increasingly dominated by an unbalanced masculine managerialism, we go implacably about our business, striving, competing, achieving, performing, multi-tasking, outwitting, texting, phoning, e-mailing, upgrading, optimising, ratcheting up standards, modelling best practice, driving forward the agenda, pushing the envelope, managing risks, managing time, planning short-, medium and long-term goals, strategising, formulating policies and putting them in place, imposing sound commercial disciplines, meeting targets and deadlines, building cohesive teams, brainstorming, giving power-point presentations, rooting out dead wood, appraising, inspecting, evaluating, assessing, monitoring, testing, improving efficiency, providing quality assurance, specifying performance indicators, checking tick-boxes, defining outcomes, imposing systems of accountability, pressurizing, oppressing, bullying, fast-tracking, networking, and of course, delivering. Brian Thorne, Professor of Counselling Studies at the University of East Anglia, has written about some of the casualties of this culture who increasingly populate his consulting room for therapy, and my oppressive list of frenetic activities and judgmental processes is an extension of his. Have we forgotten that to “deliver”, in its original meaning, is to “set free”, not to enslave either ourselves or others?

Even teachers these days no longer teach; they “deliver” a curriculum, or a policy. We should resist not only the kind of language which reduces education to a kind of soulless managerialism, but also the kind of

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language which equates education with the postal service. Are teachers only there to “deliver” programmes of study, as if they were pre-packaged one-way parcels, mere items of content to be transmitted into letterbox brains? In authentic spiritual traditions, the teacher is not only responsible for the instruction and training of the mind and the transmission of knowledge, but also with the education of the whole being. Such traditions never divorced the training of the mind from that of the soul. In the Islamic tradition, for example, the teacher is both a muallim (transmitter of knowledge) and a murabbi (nurturer of souls).

Nancy Kline, in her book Time to Think: Listening to Ignite the Human Mind compares a ‘Thinking Environment’ with what she calls ‘Male Conditioning’. In the Thinking Environment, people Listen; in the environment controlled by Male Conditioning, they Take over and Talk. Familiar territory? Have you ever been to a conference where, despite the request of the Chairman that people restrict themselves to short comments or concise questions, someone (usually a man) stands up and launches into a twenty-minute monologue? Let’s explore the other dichotomies Nancy Kline sets out. Here they are: Ask Incisive Questions/ Know everything; Establish quality/Assume superiority; Appreciate/Criticize; Be at ease/Control; Encourage/Toughen; Humanize the place/Conquer the place; Create diversity/Deride difference. It’s pretty obvious which pole of each dichotomy belongs to the Thinking Environment and which to Male Conditioning.

In the epilogue to his remarkable book, The Passion of the Western Mind, Richard Tarnas affirms his belief that the resolution of the crisis caused by the over-valuation of the masculine in Western culture is already emerging in various movements which reflect an epochal shift in the contemporary psyche, a fulfilment of the longing for a reunion with the feminine, a reconciliation between the two great polarities, a union of opposites. This can be seen in the “tremendous emergence of the feminine in our culture...the widespread opening up to feminine values by both men and women...in the increasing sense of unity with the planet and all forms of nature on it, in the increasing awareness of the ecological and the growing reaction against political and corporate policies supporting the domination and exploitation of the environment, in the growing embrace of the human community, in the accelerating collapse of long-standing and ideological barriers separating the world’s peoples, in the deepening recognition of the value and necessity of partnership, pluralism, and the interplay of many perspectives.”

I would add the important caveat that we are now at a point of maximum intensification of those negative aspects of masculine consciousness, as they attempt to forestall the impending paradigm shift described by Tarnas. This rearguard action, a typical occurrence as old paradigms redouble their efforts to prevent change, includes the co-opting into the masculine camp of a new legion of women who have embraced an unbalanced masculine modus operandi and have themselves abandoned the emerging feminine values which Tarnas sees as the main hope for the epochal shift in the contemporary psyche. Similarly, alongside the increasing awareness of the ecological is a potentially catastrophic acceleration in the assault on bio-diversity and in climate change; alongside the growing dissolution of ideological barriers separating the world’s peoples, we have the pernicious doctrine of the Clash of Civilisations which threatens to engulf the world in catastrophic conflict; alongside the deepening recognition of the value and necessity of partnership, pluralism, and the interplay of many perspectives, we have the resurgence of dangerously divisive forms of unilateralism, isolationism, nationalism, patriotism, militarism, machismo, supremacist ideology, triumphalism, and other forms of narrow identity politics. In all of this we can see the common thread of an autonomous solipsism which destroys relationship, and which has reached the stage where it has assumed a pathological character, a kind of societal and cultural autism or malignant egophrenia.

Never has the need been greater for a concerted effort to challenge those “corporate and political policies” which sustain the old paradigm. And it seems to me self-evident that the gift for relationship at the heart of the feminine psyche needs to guide this effort, whether that gift is offered by women or by men who have integrated it into their own being. This endeavour goes beyond the task, important as it is, of presenting Islam with a human face; it can help to transform not only the perception of Islam in the West, so that Islam is no longer misrepresented as inimical to women, but can also contribute to the transformation of Western society itself through the rediscovery of its own soul. This is the challenge for us: to go beyond our own solipsism, our own absorption in our own community, and to reach out with all our gifts to improve the society in which we live for all its people. In that task, intrepid Muslim women who honour their living connection with the feminine can guide us all.

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Christos Razdajetsja! (Ian)

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Can Piety and Creativity Co-exist?

An Islamic Perspective

By Veronica Polo

Humans have a great capacity for creativity and manifest their creative capacities in a myriad of ways. Simultaneously, religion enjoins us to be pious. Does religion stifle creativity by codifying personal and societal rules and, in effect, lock people into rigid ways of being and thinking? Or are pious people demonstrating their true primordial human nature (fitra in Arabic) by embodying that they were created for (the worship of God)? What role do creativity and piety play within an individual and a community, and how might they be complementary, or at least be nonconflictive?

Muslims are sometimes looked down upon for being very traditional, perceived as being too rigid in their ways of thinking and not deviating from certain social-religious expectations. Does this reveal an inherent flaw in Muslim ‘thought’? Or are Muslims, in an attempt to preserve what they understand to be God’s laws, just finding it challenging to balance piety with rapidly changing secular societies that seem to value individuality over communal cohesion and religious obedience?

In Islam, piety (taqwa in Arabic), is usually understood to be the quality someone has when they are restraining themselves from disobeying God’s commands [1]. The word hints at self-control and abstinence. In a general sense, a pious person is understood to be surrendered to the will of God. Since the definition of ‘Muslim’ is often defined as being exactly this, that is, someone surrendered to the will of God, we can surmise that piety is an integral part of being Muslim.

So, how exactly do we define ‘creativity’ and whether creativity diverges from the idea of a pious life? When we speak about creativity, what we are talking about is, on the one hand, thinking outside the box, of doing or thinking of things in a different way. On the other hand, we are talking about being true to ourselves, of finding ways of channeling our unique talents and skills in a way that is fulfilling to self and may be appreciated by others as

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well. Today’s economies prize innovation, and throughout most of history, thinkers, inventors and scientists have shaped the way we understand and operate in the world [2]. Just in the 20th century alone, scientific and technological leaps such as space exploration and the digital and communication revolutions have demonstrated the vast potential of human creativity. Muslim cultures were at the forefront of science and philosophy during what was known as the ‘Islamic Golden Age’, but today, because science and technology are seen as mostly prospering in non-Muslim majority countries, Islam is seen as antithetical to progress. Unfortunately, most people have a very short view of history.

We might consider that Muslims have needed to play a specific role within humanity, that is, to preserve a tradition which counterbalances a certain heedlessness and forgetfulness of the Divine that comes with a focus on worldly development, that Muslims have been entrusted to hold the torch of Remembrance in a world that has become overly-materialistic. Simultaneously, it could be said that not all Muslims feel good about the real or perceived lag in achievement, and that they have indeed struggled to balance their role as God’s servants (which would require conformity) with the possibility of being trendsetters in a worldly setting (which would require non-conformity).

Perhaps the real friction occurs NOT when we talk about creativity in terms of problem-solving and intellectual pursuits. The tension seems to lie between piety and creative self-expression, when that creativity is channelled through dress, artistic or musical expressions. Creative people are seen as those who make beautiful things, like in the way a musician might compose a heart-stirring piece of music, or an artist might produce a thought-provoking or beautiful painting. It is these individuals who often push the boundaries of what is acceptable or established in a society by providing new ways of looking, hearing, or understanding things.

In the West especially, art and music have flourished, leading to wide-ranging and unexpected forms. European art, from the more conventional styles in the medieval period to the inspirational explorations of the Renaissance, all the way to the explosive and dizzying Modern Art movements (Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism, etc.), has allowed artists and audiences to evolve their understanding of themselves in relation to the world. Music in the West has also been very prolific, and in the 20th century alone, we saw a vast array of styles develop (Blues, Disco, Hip Hop, Rock and Roll, etc.).

Islamic cultures have been much more reserved in this regard. In Muslim cultures, beauty has been expressed with a reverence for the Divine. No one can deny the subtle and refined beauty of Islamic architecture or the ethereal splendor of Arabic calligraphy, for example. Islamic geometric patterns play with the language of God, that is, mathematics. Designs that use symmetry are reminders of the balance in creation, while complex mathematical tessellations suggest the concept of infinity. In this way, Muslims express beauty by serving as echoes of the Creator.

Through this lens, are ‘modern’ Western expressions of art and music any less valid? Dogmatic thinkers might consider these expressions to be devoid of value, time-wasting or even dangerous. But is this really the case? Is God not continually expressing Himself through His Creation? Should not the criteria for worthy expressions be that they 1.) inspire, 2.) evoke feeling, 3.) reflect beauty, 4.) be thought-provoking, and 5.) promote positive social change?

The dimensions of creativity to be avoided could include heedlessness, darkness, or intentional harm to self or others.

But even this criteria can shift as times and cultures change, and can be affected by the perception of the individual taking in that expression (a dictator for example, is unlikely to appreciate the talent of a musician who rallies against the regime). Whatever the case, one must tap into their own wisdom to gage whether acts of self-expression fall under the category of a learning experience or, if being shared, is having a positive impact on those around them.

Could God intend both piety and creativity for us? Let us look at this from a metaphysical perspective. God is at the source of all of creation; all things come from Him and return to Him [3]. He is the ultimate Creator, capable of making something out of nothing. The universe, that which we can see and that which we cannot, is full of wonders.

Within our planet, every kind of conceivable life form seems to exist, from the single-celled to the complex. Beauty and complexity is on full display throughout the variety of mammals, birds, insects, reptiles, and every other life form present. When we look at the night sky, there is a bedazzling array of astral bodies, which have become more wondrous as technology has allowed us to penetrate deeper and further into the visible universe. It is hard to imagine how, when creation is so varied and prolific, humans, who have been given certain faculties of appreciating and building upon creation, would not be encouraged to serve as vessels for creation. When creation itself is based on growth, diversification, and trial and error (evolution), would it not make sense for humans to also evolve

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intellectually and to be prolific in our contributions to the world? Would it not be praise-worthy to celebrate and amplify the beauty that we perceive around us in the natural world? As an oft-quoted hadith goes, "God is beautiful and loves beauty.”

And yet the entire universe is subject to the laws of physics, some of which we can discern and some of which remain a mystery. There is a subtle point here. Humans have been given certain faculties of reasoning, of expressing, of feeling, of contemplation; with these, we can create. Yet, we are subject to certain laws ourselves, not only the physical, but the moral, the communal, that which will serve as a container to operate in this world. It seems then, that piety can serve as a counterbalance to the possible excesses of creativity leading to narcissistic individualism.

Now let us look at the roles that piety and creativity have played through the human behavioral lens. Children are naturally creative: they are full of ideas, they ask questions, and they take risks and experiment. This innate inquisitiveness serves as a way to learn about the world. Piousness is not an attribute we associate with children, nor would we necessarily desire it for them. Perhaps we would use adjectives such as “innocence” and “purity”. Children are not yet searching for God in the way an adult would, nor are they capable of pious self-restraint. There are stages a human must go through, and piousness comes with age. If a person has the seed of God planted in them, then they will experience a growth in spiritual capacity over time, and piousness will be the natural consequence. If they are adherent to the practices of Islam, praying and fasting will serve as the intended tools for inner purification.

Ultimately, piety and creativity need not be at odds; they are two qualities that naturally manifest within human beings. Preferably, individuals will have a holistic approach by excelling in whatever disciplines and duties they are called to outwardly, while pursuing spiritual excellence inwardly. In fact, by being in touch with God, we may better understand ourselves, what our needs and talents are, and what we have to offer to the world. And if we are in need of inspiration, we have the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as a role model, a man who reached the heights of spiritual perfection, and yet performed countless outer duties for the betterment of his community, which included frequent problem-solving. It is also helpful to remind ourselves that we are more inclined to creative explorations and acts of individual self-expression earlier in life, and that piety becomes increasingly relevant later in life, as we play out certain scenarios before making our journey back to God. Therefore, we should be wary of placing false external expectations of piety on self or others since everybody’s journey is different. Likewise, as we get older, we need to check that our creative exploits are not just ego-centric distortions that are leading us away from our center.

Creativity and piety should coexist. A human being who can balance these two qualities will hopefully lead a life rich in learning and expression that will eventually transition inwardly back to Al-Muqtadir, the Creator of All Power.

Notes [1] Here the word ‘God’ is used instead of ‘Allah’ in order not to perpetuate the commonly mistaken idea that the God of the Qur’an is other than the One and Only God referred to in the Torah and New Testament. There are many paths to the Creator, but only one Being that rules over all of creation, and all humans in spite of creed.

[2] Here the concept of innovation is not the same as the Islamic concept of bid’ah, which is referring to religious innovation, for example, straying from established principles of worship.

[3] God does not have a gender, nor is God a person, nor is God quantifiable or describable in normal human terms. Due to linguistic constraints, ‘He’ is used here, in spite of its unfortunate patriarchal connotations, to represent THAT which is the pulse behind all living things, in the third person. The Quran itself jumps around from third person singular ‘He’ to first person plural ‘We’ to first person singular ‘I’, perhaps as a mechanism to deter humans from trying to linguistically fixate on that ephemeral concept of the Divine.

This article was first published on www.exploring-islam.com

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About This Magazine Fellowship and Fairydust Magazine is a publication of Fellowship & Fairydust Publications. F&F is an online Christian-based literary blog and magazine that aims to inspire faith and creativity and explore the arts through a spiritual lens. F&F came into being when the blog and online magazine The Fellowship of the King merged with the online magazine Ink and Fairydust in January 2017. To learn more, visit fellowshipandfairydust.com.

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Image Citation Pictures not otherwise cited are from the personal collections of the graphic designers.

Table of Contents: adventuresoflilnicki.com/spend-the-night-in-the-sahara-desert/ Editor’s Note: awol.junkee.com/you-can-visit-this-lush-desert-oasis-irl/10981 Christmas Wishes: istockphoto.com Christmas Morning: n/a A Light to the Nations: flickr.com/photos/frted/5692628918?fbclid=IwAR2wEIblEc d10l6pYPFDSkuR5u75IgPA957XGba-5XmOkotJzuDW2rC0r0o The Timeless Need for Forgiveness: photo by Bard Juidth from Oman, 2016 The Hajj: pbs.org/wgbh/sacredjourneys/content/the-hajj , content.time.com/ time/photogallery/0,29307,1865298,00.html , aa.com.tr/en/life/muslim-pilgrims-ascend-mount-arafat-inhajj-climax/897701 , hajjumrahpackages.us/blog/how-long-does-it-take-to-do-the-hajj Lady Judith: fbcdeleo n.org/tentmaker/ Bard Judith’s Photos of Oman: Courtesy of Bard Judith, 2016 Rumi, Religion & Beyond Religion: powerofpositivity.com/15-life-changing-lessons-to-learn-from-rumi/ Laden with Fruit & Always Green: nationalgeographic.it/ambiente/2012/09/25/foto/11_alberi_sacri_storia_del_mondo-1276641/5 , repubblica.it/viaggi/2014/12/18/news/se_matera_si_veste_da_betlemme-117055669 , passionforpaintings.com/en/art-gallery/james-archer-painter/the-death-of-king-arthur-oil-painting-reproduction Maimonides: maverickphilosopher.typepad.com/maverick_philosopher/2015/05/maimonides-on-existenceas-an-accident-and-on-divine-simplicity.html Nativity Poem: fineartamerica.com/art/nativity I Saw Santa Punching Arius: Theophilia on DeviantArt Vayeshev: fineartamerica.com/featured/heaven-and-hell-matteoleggi.html Magic in the Sand: all images from Disney’s 1992 Aladdin A First Christmas Reflection: worship housemedia.com/motion-backgrounds/72029/christmas-silent-night , worshiphousemedia.com/motionbackgrounds/72288/nativity-scene-messiah-is-born-tonight , pinterest.com/pin/40954677837461783 CS Lewis and the Calormenes: villains.wikia.com/wiki/Rabadash , clarion-journal.com/clarion_journal_of_ spirit/2015/02/the-last-battle-and-emeth-adieu-by-ron-dart.html Jihad In Islam: commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Muhammad_calligraphy. png Mandrakes: Pexels Stock Photos, vintageprintable.swivelchairme dia.com/ , Pexels Stock Photos God Jesus Ministry: pictures courtesy of the author The Christ: celticchris tianchurch.org Listen to the Feminine: spiralupconnections.com/3-common-myths-about-muslim-women/ Christos Razdajetsja! magazine-8.com/topics/pathways/2392-following-in-the-steps-of-jesus.html? fbclid=IwAR2zED2g3vr3dvujprWj4BdjNZKy MunyXX0pMQNTHHC0tHX_5o9f1ZHgGS4 Can Piety & Creativity Co-Exist? shutterstock.com/video/clip-10045688-hexagon-fly-loose , the-faith.com/tag/prayer-time-in-islamchannel/ , flickr.com/photos/pedrosimoes7/190673196 Oh, Ye Lovers: Heart: liveanddare.com/sufi-med itation , Lamp: , Rose: un splash.com/photos/C6CVXJMXwqs , Chalice: wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalice_of_Do% C3%B1a_Urraca , Moon: awakening-together.org/classes/mpp-introduction-to-sufi-thought/ , Camels: whitemagickvibes.word press.com/tag/middle-east/ , Eye: flywithmeproductions.com/blog/?attachment _id=23389 , Pillar of Smoke: thetruemountsinai.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/moses-followed-a-pillar-ofcloud-by-day-and-a-pillar-of-fire-by-night/ , Spiderweb: pinterest.com/pin/473440979573741203/ , Shell: pinterest.com/pin/1347562138227 51719/ , Rumi: steemit.com/greatestquotes/@truth-revelation/greatestquotes-11-jalaluddin-rumi , St John of the Cross: recoverysoul.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/st-john-of-thecross/ Can We Get Away With Our Sins? flickriver.com/photos/rikdom/225857248 , souloftruth.com/ hourglass-of-eternity , phys.org/news/2018-10-video-robots-merge-universe-d.html Meeting in the Black Forest: Photo & artwork by Ian T Wilson There's No Santa Claus Without St. Nicholas: catholic.org/news/hf/ faith/story.php?id=72463 , amazon.com/German-Children-Original-Vintage-Postcard/dp/B00PCNVSF6 , amisdecussac.canalblog.com/albums/ateliers_deco_de_noel/photos/58497510-floraatelierduperenoel _1622f97.html , amazon.com/Coca-Cola-Santa-Claus-Christmas/dp/B002X8XB1m Thank You Mother: Pexels stock photos Disclaimers & Citations: wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert Upcoming Issue: Artwork by Ian T Wilson

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